questions. british prime minister gordon brown talks about uk relief efforts in haiti. also another chance to see the former british defense secretary is testimony to the iraq war panel. . . >> we of a roomful of college students.

-- we have a roomful of college students that we're going to talk to in a minute. but tell us about the college. >> we were founded in 1975 to provide an opportunity for college students from all over the world to come to washington and either spend a semester- long internship working for government or nonprofit agencies or private corporations or one or two week programs following the current issues of the day. for instance, this program. >> why do you do it? >> i've been here 33 of our 34 years of existence and it's been a labor of love. we believed early on, bill burke, our founder and others that started the organization that it was meaningful and could be a transformational experience for college students to partake of these programs. >> how many students a year? >> 1,500 to 1,600 interns. >> who pays for them? >> students and/or their units

-- universities or money that we raise and corporations and individuals. >> someone what wants to come, what kind of out of pocket suspense do they have? >> nor program, in the $1,200 range and that includes housing. >> where were you before you did this? >> i was working as a counselor in a junior high school in massachusetts and managing a restaurant on cape cod in the summer. >> what's the best thing a student can say after this? >> this changed my life. i'm going to volunteer more in my community or i'm going to change my major. something transformational typically happens to the students that come for this program. >> somebody watching this in the next couple of minutes that want to get involved, where do they go? >> twc.edu is the website.

we are easily accessible. we have a full-time staff of 75 here in washington and we'd love to help them. >> mike smith, i want to get back to the students now and open this up, and alexandra, you've agreed to be our opening talker. give us your background, your full name, where you're from. >> good morning, everyone. i am 19 years old. from miami-dade college honors college and i am a broadcaster and major. i came because of my aspiration to be a reporter and i'm here with 27 other students. this is our second day but so far it has been amazing. i can ensure that that i personally do want to engage

more in learning about politics. it's been amazing so far so through for this opportunity. >> thank you, mike smith. what career are you in? -- what year are you win? >> a first-year college student. >> why do you want to be a reporter? >> because i love learning about everything and in my career you learn something every day and i love meeting people and all the special things that have to do with what their passionate about. >> do you have a political position? >> i'm independent. i side with republicans and democrats on different issues. >> how much more time do you have for the week? >> we leave on friday. >> and so far, give me one thing you've learned that you didn't expect to learn? >> well, yesterday we had anchors from cnn and they were just -- something that stuck with me was they advised us to read and be more informative on everything because that's key in anything that you do.

also they had mentioned that you need to be -- if you want to get in that career. that stuck with me and i'm going to remember that. >> what's the number one news source for you? >> i do like cnn and i read the "miami herald" daily and yahoo! is where i get instant news from my email address. >> thank you, alexandra. >> thank you. >> carl, tell us the same. >> my name is carl hoffman. i'm from suffolk, university in boston. i'm a junior there. politics and court majors. originally from small town in rhode island and i guess i would say that i do fall within the republican party. i am currently the president of the suffolk college republicans. >> that kind of nailed it,

wouldn't it? what do you want to be? >> my aspirations right now would be law school, eventually to look toward going into some form of politics. whether state or national level is still undecided. it has been a passion of mine from a very young age but that is on my back burner toward finishing my education and starting my career and seeing what's ahead. >> how long have you been here for this? >> since the beginning of this week and i was here last year for the inauguration seminar. >> what are you learning? >> the best day that i had last week was the national security day where we had the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff come in, admiral mullens to speak to us. i found it very informative, especially when he was talking about the recent surge in troops to afghanistan, saying that not all the troops are going and looking to us to tackle al qaeda in other countries, not

solely within afghanistan. >> you hear adults in this town all the time talk about the youth of america and how concerned they are about your future. do you think they're really concerned and if so, what do you think your future is going to be? >> as of right now, the amount of money that the government has been spending i'm not a huge fan of the current health care bill and i'm worried about the debt that bill is going to straddle the youth of america with. instead of being worried that we're not necessarily fully civically involved they need to worry about the state of the country that they're going to leave us. i've seen more youth and more college students become more passionate about politician so i think we're on the right trend within our generational years. i think the biggest thing that

the older generations can do is look at what they're going to leave us and the state of the nation they're going to leave us rather than worrying why all of us don't go out to vote and so on. >> what's your news source? >> i look at "the boston globe" and boston heard. i am partial to fox news. i will flip through cnn every once in a while but i do find that fox is more balanced on both sides. >> i want to ask you a question and get a wide shot of the room. how many in this room would watch cnn first? put your hand up? and how many would watch fox news first? tells us a little bit. i'm going to ask this young lady. i saw your hand up earlier and you didn't get a chance to ask a question.

give us your background. >> my name is amber walker and i'm from texas southern university in houston, texas. my major is biology premedicine in i'm here representing the honors college/the debate team. i am the president of the honors college and i've had a great experience here. last week was definitely something that i will take with me on my journey because i realized how much i do love politics and law. i figured that maybe it was just a phase but i realize it was only something they threw to the back of my head so i'm definitely appreciative of this program. >> what did you learn last week that made it so interesting? >> i learned that there are so, so many opinions to go around and of course, there are going to be thrown down by others who have the opposite opinion of you but because of that you should

take that as a learning experience. you know, other people's views should also -- you should sponge out what you do need. i've always said there are three sides to every story. one side, two, and then truth. somewhere there's always the truth so we should definitely look at our views and then look at others and take from that what we should. >> you didn't give us your name, did you? >> yes. >> so what do you think of the future? >> i think that the future definitely -- something needs to be done about the path that we're going in. he said that he thought that we

were going a steady trend but i think there's a problem within the way that things are running because people are caring more about their political parties and more about what they care about versus what's better humility and that's definitely a problem now. >> do you consider yourself a member of a party? >> i am a conservative democrat. >> conservative democrat? >> yes. >> please, for this room, define a conservative democrat. >> i'm a southern democrat. >> pass it on to somebody else who wants to talk. go ahead. >> when i say i'm a conservative democrat, it's because i am from texas and texas is very conservative and i tend to side with both sides of the spectrum. like i said, it's what is going to better humility. -- humanity. whether that be the conservative side of things or the liberal side, it depend on

who's running and what they're thinking of it and so that's why i consider myself a conservative democrat, because i can go for either side, depending on who is going to help improve the future of not just america but the entire world. >> thanks, amber. pass that on to somebody. yes, please stand and tell us who you are. >> hi, i'm lunch hour yeah from -- laura gamble from north carolina. i'm here with a group of north carolina teaching fells recipients and i'm a junior. all majoring in elementary education. >> how long you been in town >> since the beginning of this conference and until it send -- ends on friday. >> i've us the -- give us the high point so far. >> i have enjoyed hearing all the different sides because i am not a politically minded person. i'm not into politics. i've never really enjoyed them. but seeing all these opinions makes me feel that, yes, my

opinions are a lot different from all my other friends and i've kind of learned that that's ok. >> give us an example. >> for example, most of my friends are more on the liberal side. i'm more conservative. they're big on, if the government can help us, let them take on this and this so -- to help us out. i'm more of a can the government just sort of leave us alone? >> and your parents agree? >> my parents are also conservative. >> and why did you pick elon university? >> it just felt right. it was a beautiful campus, just small. the classroom sizes were also small and i come from a very small town. i didn't want the culture shock of having 500 students in my classroom. >> what's your opinion about the future? >> in all honesty i think the

future is bright. i know that sounds kind of crazy but we are going through a really tough time in our country but we've been through a lot worse than this. if you go back and think, this is nothing compared to some of the things this country has survived through so i feel like we're going to get through this just final. >> you said you weren't interested in politics but why are you here? >> it is required for elon teaching fellows to come to this conference. but i do appreciate now that it is required. because yes, i did complain and whine about how i didn't want to come but now that i'm here it makes my understand that this stuff is important and i do need to get involved with it. >> what do you sound like when you whine? >> oh, do i really have to go -- i'm an education major. >> that's great. thank you. yes, sir.

>> hi. i'm not sure how i follow her but i'm jeremy from quinnipiac, and i'm a broadcaster as a major, political science minor and i have a question for you, brian, if you don't mind. what has been the response to your letter to speaker pelosi and harry reid about trying to, you know, make the negotiations between the two health care bills more transparent? >> i'm the guy asking the questions. [laughter] briefly, and then i want to hear more from you. frankly the response has been public. there have been no letters exchanged. i sent a letter to all the leaders and each has had their own comment on this. there's no indication, number one yet, that there will be a conference, and number two, that if there was a conference it would be open. so we have to wait and see.

we actually sent the letter in anticipation that there would be a conference and in the event that they thought about closing it we wanted to make sure we were interested in covering it. now tell me about yourself. >> i'm a broadcaster, journalism major. i would love to go into tv or radio. i have a radio show at school. basically in this kind of economy i believe you're forced to go where the jobs take you. if that's into tv, great, radio, great, blogging, great. i'm here because i have an affinity for the intricacies of politics. politics i believe is a dynamic thing. there's the level all of us see and then there's the sub layer of what happens behind the scenes. >> do you take your own political persuasion into your reporting and discussion? >> no, i -- i try not to because i don't think that's

fair to the people that are listening, so even though my radio show is a sports show, i look at it the same way, that you can think that some player is great but you have to listen to the opposite view of somebody who may have an opposite opinion and i think this town too often doesn't let the other side have it voice sometimes so i think that balancing both sides is a very important thing to both my reporting and a political discussion in 2010. >> so when you're not worrying about sports, what's your number one news source? >> i watch "nbc nightly news" every night but i will watch almost every carolina network -- cable network because i think there is something of value to take from each one. >> you got the mike? yes. >> how are you? >> hi. >> i'm a sophomore at miami-dade college and i'm currently a political science major and i'm looking at transferring to a f

our-year university. >> tell us about miami dade. >> we have eight campuses and approximately 160,000 students. we are the biggest community college in the united states. >> small? 160,000 students? >> yes, and we indicator to -- cater to basically all of miami dade. all the mayors, senators, congressman. we were meeting with a senator tomorrow. we have a very strong through in -- influence in southern florida. >> so you go for two years? >> correct and then we transfer off to university. >> by the way, this school, george washington, gets $50,000 some-odd a year for tuition. what do you have to pay? >> i've been in the honors college so thankfully we get in-state fully covered but it would be approximately $86 a create credit. so every year, $1,000 semester a approximately plus books.

>> so a little different. >> right. >> due happen to know how many go on to a four-year university or college? >> once you graduate, especially in honors college, we all usually going on to get our bachelor's. >> what have you learned? >> just to keep an open mind. you can't narrow yourself to only your view because there are other people and their views and you need to pay attention to those. >> do you belong to a party? >> i consider myself to be an independent because i share views both with the republicans and democrats. as far as the way government is run i'm very republican minded but as far as civil rights and other aspects i would have democratic views. >> so the republicans don't believe in civil right? >> well, they do, but certain civil rights, as far as abortion or gay marriage or other things.

>> what do you think the future of this country is? >> it's a good question and i think that it would be a bright future as long as everyone in this room puts in an effort and goes in a positive way and does something good for this country and world. >> what does positive way mean? >> something that would take care of others. >> how long have you been in town? >> we just got here on sunday. >> and who is the most impressive person you've seen so far on the stage and in front of you? >> john king. >> of cnn? >> yes. >> what about his wife? she was sitting right next to him. >> she was great also. >> yes, ma'am. >> hi, i'm from long island, new york but i'm from foxborough, massachusetts. >> is that good or bad? >> it's great.

>> you're pretty sad right now. you're from suffolk. >> i'm from the home of the patriots. >> why are you here? >> because hofstra chose two students. they sent us here and the school is paying for us. we're very grateful to them to learn more about politics. it's my passion. i hope to some day work in government. >> go welcome in your life and tell me when you started to be interested in politics. >> my whole family is very political. we're definitely from the massachusetts, kennedy obsessed kind of group, so my whole life i've probably been more politically aware my whole life than most of my peers. i've also had this passion. >> all last week who impressed you the most? >> i enjoyed patrick griffin and gary andres. they both worked in the

legislative affairs office. gary worked for president bush and patrick worked for president clinton. it was interesting to see how much they had in common and how much they had to say about what their work with congress was like. >> what do you want to become? >> i'd like to work in legislative affairs or in public policy somewhere in government. >> what's your impression of this town? >> i love it. i want to come here after i graduate. >> what kind of a job do you think people are doing? >> how so? >> do you think they're doing a good job? >> i'm pretty optimistic about the future. i think the situations we're in now are going to take a lot of hard work and sacrifice on everyone's part. i don't think it's going to be an easy solution but in time i think the economy will bounce

back. it's just going to take time and patience to see it through. >> have you been to washington before? >> yes, but not for the washington center. >> thanks, who's got the mike? yes syrup. >> morning. my name is jeff. >> jeff come down the aisle a little bit. you're good. >> i'm from massachusetts. born and raised. bart college. i'm currently a junior. >> what college? >> bart college at simon's rock. it's real small, 400 people. right near the new york border. >> why are you here? >> well, my politics professor at school recommended it. she said it would be interesting, especially with the new is the -- presidency to, be down in washington right now, to sort of get the in washington look. i have to say so far i agree. it's been fascinating, a lot of funnel. >> what have you learned? >> well, i'd never been to

washington before. >> ever? >> no, not ever. so i really -- i had my own opinions about how things were getting done. i still have those opinions but it's been nice to talk to people who live here. >> give us an idea of opinions you had before you got here about this town. >> i didn't mean necessarily about the town but more the people in it. there was a quote that gene alpert said on the first day -- 65 square miles of washington, surrounded by reality. that was my mentality going in but i think it makes a lot more sense now, the world that this is in. >> why? >> this is the center of everything. like -- i have that opinion now and it's not something they understood before.

it's not a place that you can come and take in opinions from outside and ignore the fact that this is the place where you have to engage with the system of government as it exists, not necessarily as you picture it. >> how do you get your information about this town where you live? >> i get my news from cnn. i guess comedy central too, a lot of the internet. >> how many in this room watch comedy central? everybody in the room practically. why? >> i think jon stewart and stephen colbert have been tapping into a mentality that's been growing. this sort of discontent with how many people are dissatisfied with the democratic and republican parties and pretty much everyone raised their hands. there's a sense of honesty,

challenge, engagement and obviously entertainment too, that you don't get watching news anywhere else. >> and where do you expect to be in your professional career 10 years from now? >> hopefully i'll be a practicing lawyer in the air force. i hope that happens. >> so you don't have a plan to come here? >> not in 10 years. i do hope to be here at some point in my life. >> if you're a lawyer in the air force you could easily be here in the pentagon. >> i very well could. >> who else? hi. >> i'm a senior doing a double degree on bio and psyche. i'm the president of the student government and i really enjoyed the seminar so far because it's really opened my eyes on politics.

>> let me stop you there. give us the definition of opened your eyes. >> well, i got to learn a lot on how things work inside washington and some issues and concerns that a lot of people and workers and government has, so that really has helped me understand politics better. >> who have you heard from? who have you seen on the stage or wherever you've been that have opened your eyes some? >> well, there's a lot of speakers but i would say mrs. erati, the admiral and also the speakers on health care. they have really helped me understand, especially with the health care reform, you know,

how things work with that and what they're trying to do with the bill and so on. >> do you belong to a party? >> no. >> why not? >> well, i consider myself independent and there are some things that i agree with democrats and some things that i agree with republicans. so i prefer to be independent. >> now you ran for the president of the student center? >> yes. >> what does that mean and what was your platform? >> student senate, not center. oh, i'm sorry. senate. >> well, that was really a good experience. i had to -- >> what were the issues? >> there's a lot of issues in our school such as -- tuition

and other things but the main concerns that students have, therefore i had toe look into those things and work with other members of the board and also other organizations to make those things better in our community. >> how much is tuition in your school? >> about $30,000 a year. >> who've. who else? >> i go to california state university in long beach, california and i am from idaho originally, so -- >> do you have a party? >> i'm a republican. i knew you were going to ask. >> why? >> why? well, it's just the way i was raised. i'm a christian and, you know, just things like that and -- >> christians don't belong to the democratic party? >> no, i mean -- i just think on the republican side you do

tend to have people with more religious views, whatever that may be. just on views like abortions and stuff like that. >> have you been here a week or two? >> i've been here for a week so far. i'm a health care administration major with hopes of going into masters nursing program. i'm here because i think that more politicians need to know about health care, especially when you're voting on such issues as the health care reform right now. >> if you were in the senate of the house right now would you vote for this bill? >> no, i would not. we talk a lot about the health care reform bill and i think we're going about it the wrong way. we need to study health care systems around the world before we make our plan for here. >> if they were standing here they'd say we have studied those. if you're on the republican side you'd say we don't like them. on the democratic side i don't know what you'd say.

do we have a moral obligation as a society to have health care available to everyone? >> yes, it does need to be available to everybody but with the current reform bills they're looking at regulating the doctors and hospitals. i think they need to look at the insurance companies because there are thousands of people that want to get health care but they can't because they can't get insurance, so you need to put regulations on the insurance companies so more people can get coverage instead of being denied for preexisting conditions and medical history that they can't control. >> so where do you expect to be 10 years from now? >> i think we'll be struggling with our health care system even more than we are now. because i do expect this bill to pass because all of congress is pushing for it right now and i think that it's going to put

us in a worst position. >> but what will you be doing in 10 years? >> i will be a nurse and i will be in a hospital. i'm not worried about myself, i guess, there. i'll have coverage. >> in -- if you're going to go to a news source where do you go? >> i have all night classes right now but i turn on the news in the morning and it's basically whatever doesn't have weather on and doesn't have commercials. >> thank you. who's got the mike over here? >> jamar. city of university, new york, brooklyn college. >> tell us about yourself. >> i'm the president of my undergraduate student body. i came out here to learn more about politics and explore my

interests more. i'm a computer science major. i never was interested in politics until i ran for student government at my school and became more and more interested and passionate about it. >> how big is your school? >> there are about 17,000 altogether. >> and why did you run -- student body, did you say? what challenged you to do that? >> i was just paying attention to the interests of the students and clubs and the things that were going on on campus and i saw some ways to make some improvements and i realized the only real way to make improvements was to get involved with government. >> how's it going? >> so far, so good, but my current challenge is continuity. >> as a computer science major where do you expect to be in 10 years? >> i'm more passionate about being in politics, which is why i'm here and why i ran for student government but i see

computer science being a big help no matter where i go, whether it's law or politics. the technologies that are coming out right now are going to change the world. they have already. >> now that you're student body president and you like the politics, which job do you want up on capitol hill? or down here on 1600 pennsylvania avenue? >> i'm not so sure about here, but in new york there are a lot of positions available and i would like to run for elected office in a couple of years in new york city. >> from what you know of all the politicians you've ever seen who's your favorite? >> well, it's a little cliche to say barack obama but he speaks really well and i think that's very admirable. i would like to improve my public speaking skills. >> how are you going to do that? >> i've always been practicing speaking publicly as student public president and always going to events, making sure i get up and speak. reading and writing and always

trying to improve by articulation and such. i want to join more organizations that practice public speaking. >> yells syrup. -- yes, sir. >> jonathan hayes. arkansas state, graduate student, public administration. i'm from arkansas originally. >> why is are you here? >> well, mainly i just happened to find out -- i was meeting with one of my teachers last semester and she showed me a wrong sure and everything seemed too good to be true. it was every area i was interested. in radio, tv. much more of an emphasis on politics last week. it seemed perfect and it has been. >> who's impressed thank you most since you've been here? >> besides the rocking restaurant, that was pretty impressive. i would have to say admiral mullens was very impressive.

i liked everything this morning. this is right down my alley. also john king and dana. pretty much nobody has not impressed me. >> has anything surprised you? >> actually, everything exceeded my expectations. i want to be optimistic but i'm always wondering where's the catch? so far, it's overly exceeded my expectations. >> are you a member of a party? >> i would say more republican. >> why? >> because i was raised on it. i don't believe in big government. i believe in small government. i believe in the death penalty -- there's not a whole lot of things that i believe in on the liberal side of things. it's just not me. >> have you gotten in any arguments with anybody here? >> yeah, i could say -- \[laughter] >> yeah, a little bit here and

there but nothing that we couldn't work through. >> so where are you going to be in 10 years? >> hopefully either making my money talking or living off a sugar mama. \[applause] >> thank you. >> why are only the males in this room clapping? what do you mean -- i don't think i've ever heard that. what do you mean making your living talking in >> well, actually -- i took a break from undergrad to grad school. i was in radio for five years and i host add sports talk show and i loved it. i bounced around to several place. i'd get to a certain point and it would level out. i'd like to get back into it. it was at a time where i had a -- to make a decision, i had to go back to school and got really interested in politics.

i could see the economy was kind of going in the dumper. so if it was time to go back to school it was the right time. >> where do you go for your number one news source? >> oh, c-span. nothing but c-span. >> right. >> i knew what you were waiting for. >> you don't know me very well. what is your number one news source? >> right now -- i hate to admit, a little bit of comedy central here and there, but cnn, fox, local news, internet. >> the comedy central thing baffles a lot of adults. they don't understand why it's so -- i watch it all the time but they don't -- people don't understand why young people watch jon stewart and stephen colbert so much and like it. can you help us? >> i think it's a situation where every one of these sources almost try to go over the top and outscoop the other.

comedy central can put a spin on it to where they're making fun of it. everybody realizes it's pretty much the same story depending on which spin you want to put out. they're making fun of everything across the board. you're saying something stupid, they're going to report on it but it's funny. >> who in this audience -- i'm going to ask you whether you're a colbert fan first or a stewart fan first. how many of you are colbert fans first? and how many of you are jon stewart fans first? yeah. how many of you are fans of neither? who's got the mike over here? yes, ma'am? >> greetings. i'm representing north carolina central university. >> where is it? >> in north carolina.

\[laughter] >> what year are you? >> i am a second-year graduate student. >> studying what? >> public administration. >> and why is are you here? >> because hi undergraduate degree was in political science and it was a great refresher course to hear about politics and it gives me the opportunity and ability to jump back into the world of politics with confidence. >> why do you want to do that? >> because public administration teaches you about the public sector and if you want to get involved you need to know about politics and what's going on in the world. coming back here has placed me back into the world of politics. >> what do you think the future is? >> very positive. just by looking back into our history, every time with you go into a trial, we always come out positive. >> why do we always come out positive? >> we always have a brighter outcome. think about the way this country was founded.

coming from britain, they didn't have the freedoms they wanted so they came to america. and now we're the land of the free. >> where do you go for your news? >> cnn. also, brand newz.com. they interview everyday, ordinary people, news that you would not find on a news. what a nonprofit is doing. who got straight a's this week. they feed off fox and abc as well. it's very diverse. >> what are we going to find you in 10 years? >> probably lobbying far nonprofit organization. >> next? >> hi. my name is claudia. and i attend the miami dade college. and my major is psychology and i'm a second year. >> why are you here?

>> i owe a lot to this country. i'm a refugee. i came from cuba on a raft and because of this country i'm able to be here and exercise the freedom of speech, freedom of everything. and this seminar has given me the opportunity to learn a lot about law, about the media and how it affects everyone. it affects me, my parents, just everyone. >> i got to tell you -- if you make a living asking questions like i do, you don't let somebody say you came here on a raft without going into some detail. you got to tell us that story. >> i was 4 years old and it was august 16, 1994. we left at night. we spent four nights and three days at sea lost. no water, no food, but luckily the coast guard came and they saved us.

we were going to go that -- to guantanamo bay but i was very sick so we were given permission by the white house, the government, so i could be taken to the nearest hospital, which was key west. from there we went to chrome -- we didn't have anyone here, no relatives. a few months later we were released and my parents just established themselves. they made their living. >> the did you talk to them about leaving cuba? what was the reason? >> things were getting very bad. money was difficult to be made. business was hard. my parents were suffering economically and i was very sick and they needed somewhere to start new. they needed new hopes, new dreams and this country is definitely something to look toward -- forward to. >> have you been back to cube ai since then? >> yes, i visit every year -- well, with the embargo, every three years.

i have a lot of family over there. it's very sad when you go over and you have to leave them behind. >> what do you trip about what you see in cuba now versus what you see in the united states? >> could you repeat? >> if you had to go back under the circumstances you live in now, would you go back? >> no, i wouldn't go back. >> why not? >> i would stay here because i have education here. i've been given so many privileges. my right to speak freely in front of everyone, to hear other's opinions to not have a fear to be punished by the government. cuba didn't have that. it's still under a dictatorship with castro. i would definitely live here. >> where will you be in 10 years? >> i see myself as a criminal

attorney and around the world. i like to travel. >> i suspect there are others in this audience who have a similar story. anybody else come over from cuba with that kind of a story? who are you pointing to? oh, over here. where are you? is it you? we got to get you a mike. what's your name? >> my name is helena. i'm also from miami dade college. yes, i'm cuban. i've been here three years but i had the opportunity to come here legally on a plane. but yeah, it's the same situation. we all have the same -- all cubans have the same situations as why you're here. >> why did you come? what were the circumstances? >> how -- >> no, did you come as a family? >> i came with my mother and my grandmother. my mother wanted an international visa so we were lucky and we came here.

>> how would you describe the differences between living in cuba and the united states? >> it's a huge difference. it has nothing to did -- well, in cuba it's the freedom of speech is very limited. there's no feel -- freedom of speech and here i can speak my mind. whatever i think about the government or anything and i can say it freely without restraints. in cuba it's not like that. you live with fear. you live in fear of your neighbors speaking and saying you did this or your bosses. it's a sat life. >> we have heard reports that the health care in cuba is very good. some people think it's a model for what we should have here in the united states. >> not really. no, it's not good. hospital conditions are really poor and some people who need

certain essential surgeries can't get them and some medications. there are many cases of people who need certain medications and the physicians don't tell their families these are the medications. they just say there's nothing we can do. there's no medication. but simply because we don't have them in cuba. so instead of saying this is the medication you need and you can get them somewhere else, they say there's nothing to do. >> let me ask you about this program. what have you learned since you've been here? >> i've always been really interested in politics, especially in politics in the united states. this program has been amazing for me. from getting insights on -- one of the things that's really stayed with me was that -- that

sense of respecting both sides. respecting both democrats and republicans and independents. we must take opinions and each party feel and respect them. >> where do you want to be in 10 years? >> in 10 years i see myself in the corporate world. either in entrepreneurship or a corporation. >> thank you. i want to ask one of the professors or teachers in the audience in a moment after -- somebody that will put up their hand and talk to me. who's got the mike over here? one of the students? there we go. where are we? right here. i can hand you this mike. tell me your name. >> hello, everyone.

i'm a student government association president and a college nurse campus. >> you're the student government -- >> association president. >> how'd you get that job? >> we have to go through a campaign as well. we have to get the majority vote of the student body. we have to stand for certain issues as to what can we improve on our campus. tuition, books or undocumented students trying to get education. it could many things. i'm a mass communication major and this program has been great. it has been amazing. i think it's a great opportunity. i think miami-dade college -- it's a college of opportunities and it has presented itself with this seminamplet it has the media aspect, which i love

and it has also the politics. i definitely after i graduate, want to do something with political communications. >> what does that mean? >> pretty much what we're doing here, learning the media side of it but also on politics but hopefully i'll be going into law school after. >> what do you want to do all this? >> i see myself lobbying for education in the future or running for a student position but definitely for higher education because so many of like -- some of the speakers spoke before saying in order for us to have education we can be somewhere in the future. and i really stand for, that if you believe in that then why should we close the door to undocumented students who have lived here most of their life? it's just different issues with education that i'm different interested in. >> who in the media do you respect the most? name an individual who you think communicates the best. >> i really -- from the speakers i've met here, john keen and dana bash.

they really impressed me. one of the things they mentioned -- information is power and that stuck to me. because with information we do have power and i think every one here, we have -- every individual had -- has different information and we all have some sort of power. that's what -- you know. >> thanks. why don't you hand me that back and i need to find somebody here who is a professor. this gentleman down here doesn't look like he's a student, but he just might be. tell us about yourself. >> good assumption. i'm charlie kelly from cain university and this is my 13th year with washington center. this has been a great program. i was here last week as well as this week. >> what do you get out of -- out of this for your students? >> well, it's a renewal for me

in the sense that it's always a learning experience so i see it as part of my professional development. what i like most of all is the interaction with the students. the students are very diverse, from different schools and universities and from very different political perspectives. >> where is your school? >> my university is in new jersey. kean university, new jersey. >> named after -- do you know? >> tom kean. the kean family of new jersey. >> former governor? head of the 9/11 commission? >> yes. >> over the years -- if you've been doing this for 13 years. what do you see change in a student after they've been here for a couple of weeks? >> it is a transformational experience for them. one, many of them want to get involved in politics. two, they realize the value of an internship. three, often they come to the washington center for the

semester-long internship or they get themselves an internship. i just met with one of my former students on capitol hill from governor payne's office and she's as excited about washington as she was four or five years ago when she was a student. without this experience i don't think she would have ever made that connection. >> should i ask you what you're going to be doing in 10 years? >> hopefully i'll be back here. >> god willing. make it, charlie. who's got their hand up back here? pass this down to her, if you would. please give us your name and your school. >> my name is natalie valdez. i'm from miami dade college as well. i'm a journalism major and i'm a freshman. >> we only have a couple minutes left. if you're a journalism major you've begun to decide what's interesting and not interesting.

have you found these folks interesting today? >> yes, definitely. i mean, i'm not going to say no. >> you could. what is it that interests you as a journalism student? >> i find everything interesting, just like alex was saying. i lover learning about everything and politics is interesting to me. but i could never consider a career in it because it's such a dirty game, like it's -- >> what makes you think it's a dirty game? >> there's so much lying involved and so much he said and it's just -- >> can you give me an example of somebody in politics who has lied? \[laughter] >> there's not enough time. >> there's not enough time. >> you know, you're -- not answering the question. >> i'm learning. that's what i'm learning. >> you're learning, huh. do you actually think people in politics lie? >> i do.

i honestly feel that they will do anything to get what they want and it's just -- they will step on each other'stous. i don't -- not literally, i mean, figuratively. >> you don't think they'd literally step on somebody's toes? >> they might, you never know. >> where do you expect to be in 10 years? >> wow. i'd either be in the entertainment industry. i'd want to be an actress. i've been in the entertainment industry before and i love it. i'd also want to be traveling the world reporting on poverty in different countries that are suffering like cuba. i've done mission work also in the dominican republic, so that would be very interesting for me and i would also want to be producing my onus show. >> you have a lot on your plate. >> yeah, i do. we'll see what happens. >> you've only been here two days?

>> yes. >> in two days what's impressed you? >> the speakers. i was very impressed with john king and dana bash yesterday. i know that they have so much information and i like some of the experiences. also steve -- >> steve. he's right over there. >> i was talking to my group yesterday in a meeting that we had and i would just love to know -- like you off lifetime of experiences working as a journalist and with "good morning america" that's amazing to me. >> what question would you like to ask steve bell? steve, come on out. we have to get you in this. we should tell the audience that steve bell used to work at abc for years. has been at ball state

university for 15 years. is now emeritus professor out there. i think i can get the mike from you. thank you, michael. here you are. this young lady has a question for you. >> hello. >> hi. >> what has been your most memorable experience as a journalist? >> oh, my goodness. that's too long a story. >> we have four minutes. >> yeah, i was a war correspondent in vietnam, covering in cambodia and my crew and i discovered a massacre of nearly 100 men, women, and children and we were able to get the story out of the country despite censorship and break it to the world. and within three weeks there were three such massacres and your honorists who were in -- journalists who were and cambodia were able to find them

all, and it created world opinion that forced the cambodian government to make it stop. so -- \[applause] >> wow. >> what year did you leave abc? >> 1987. >> so you've been gone from broadcasting for 23 years or so -- >> a long time. >> your job at ball state was what? >> i taught broadcast journalism and i taught a wonderful oxy moron -- responsibility in the media. >> what have you heard from this group? in this last hour, what are they saying to you? >> they're saying to me that what we're doing is worth it, because the -- seeing john king and dana bash yesterday -- and i must take a moment to say that i've done dana because her father, stu schwartz, was a wonderful news producer for abc

and my producer for a long time. but you guys picked up on it. i mean, here are two people that really know what's going on. and not only that, they're part of it. and i always felt that the most -- the biggest blessing of my years in washington -- my years as a journalist, was that i got the opportunity to be, not a part of history, although occasionally you got pulled into that role -- the massacre story -- but that you got to be an observer and you got to be the person who was the conduit for getting this information -- important information -- from the outside -- or from the inside to the outside, where everybody had an opportunity to